HCM CITY — Authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Long An have identified building transport infrastructure as crucial to socio-economic development.

The Long An People’s Committee has amended the road development plan for the period until 2020 with a vision to 2030, approved an axis road connecting Đức Hoà District with HCM City’s Bình Chánh District and announced the 1/5,000 plan for National Highway No 1A in the province.

It has also announced the 1/10,000 plan for the northern section of Bến Lức District and called for investments in roads and created favourable conditions for the development of industrial parks, residential areas, and business and service centres in the area.

Compensation payments for lands acquired for construction of roads in the area are almost complete, according to the Department of Planning and Investment.

Deputy secretary of the Long An Party Committee, Đỗ Hữu Lâm, said the province would take a number of measures to speed up transport infrastructure development.

They include a programme to publicise the policies on investment in transport infrastructure, helping speed up land clearance works, he said.

The province would raise funds mobilised from both the public and private sectors for developing transport infrastructure, including in PPP (public - private partnership) form, supervise the use of the lands for PPP projects and resolve delays in the projects, he said.

Long An Province agencies will strengthen co-operation with HCM City for joint projects and to speed up works to connect them such as the Thầy Cai and Rạch Dơi bridges and provincial road No 823.

Long An has also focused on administrative reform and improving its competitiveness index to usher in a more liberal investment environment.

According to its Department of Planning and Investment, the province has completed six of 14 works under a programme to mobilise funds for its transport infrastructure.

Six others are in progress while the paperwork is being completed for the last two.

Three other major works include provincial road No 830, a beltway in Tân An City (including a bridge across Vàm Cỏ Tây River) and an axis road connecting Tiền Giang, Long An and HCM City.

These projects, which have caught the fancy of investors, are expected to help turn Long An into an economic hub of the southern region, the Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper reported. — VNS.